LG V20 review: simple looks with impressive specifications

LG V20, the latest iteration to LG V series and the successor to LG V10 is constantly in news these days and there is a suitable reason for its popularity. It is the first smartphone to come bundled with Android 7.0 Nougat operating system. The smartphone is getting much popular given its simple looks yet jaw dropping specifications. Here in this LG V20 review, we’ll dig more details about the smartphone. Let’s get started:

LG V20 review

Hardware and Design

First point of interest in our LG V20 review is design and hardware specs of the new smartphone. When you look the LG V20 for the first time, it’s not like that you’ll fall in love with it at first sight. No doubt the phone appears tough and manly, still it lacks that attractiveness and elegance. In simple world it’s not much different than other Android phones of its price range.

The smartphone is built of aluminum alloy, which gives your phone a tough look and it can endure more physical torture (falling from a height, smashing on the walls) than a normal phone.

In the back side, you’ll find power-button. This is the one thing I love about LG phones. The power button is placed exactly where the user’s index finger will rest. Both the power-button and finger print sensor have been combined into one. Volume keys are on the upper left side.

There is Mic placed on the top, along with a very small opening for the IR port. While the speaker, a mic opening, 3.5 headphone jack and a USB Type-C port are placed on the bottom.

Also there is a small button on its side. Press it! And you see that the back cover is lifted and you get access to the removable battery, SIM card and microSD card slots. You can also swap your phone’s battery.

Talking about the weight and size, the smartphone is 159.7×78.1×7.1mm in size and weighs about 177 grams, which means it is much slimmer and lighter than previous LG V10.

LG V20 comes in titan sliver and pink options.

Display

Next in our LG V20 review is display qualities. LG V20 features a 5.7-inch Gorilla Glass 4-covered 2560×1400 (QHD) display, which looks impressive when you look at it for the first time. The pixel density is 515 pixel per inch (ppi).

Apart from this, there is also a smaller 2.1-inch second screen that stretches the total display to 5.9-inches. This is a significant feature introduced in LG V10 to make your smartphone look bigger and more impressive.

This time the secondary screen is brighter and the fonts are larger, which means you can see things more easily at different angles. And in case you don’t like it, you can choose to turn it off.

Interface

LG V20 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. No matter, few Nougat features found in Pixel smartphones are missing. Still it’s much better deal than buying a flagship smartphone from other manufacturers, who are shipping the older version of Android.

The user interface is quite strong and impressive. You can customize the phone the way you want to. And if you’re still not impressive, you can use a third party launch.

There is no app drawer in the latest interface (called UI LG UX 5.0+ by default). However, you can enable the traditional app drawer with a simple toggle. Apart from this the toggle features Knock Code, second screen notifications and controls, enhanced audio recording modes, multi-window support, themes and much more.

There’s also a comfort screen feature. However you’ll need to manage it manually.

Camera

LG V20 features dual rear facing cameras. The main rear-camera shoots at 16MP with F1.8 aperture, while the secondary rear camera shoots at 8MP with an aperture of F/2.4, which can shoot 135-degree wide angled images.

On front, there’s a single 5MP lens, with f/1.9 aperture, which has been slightly improved from f/2.2 front-facing cam featured in LG V10. It can capture 120-degree wide angled images, in-case you want to include a group of friends in Selfie.

On the other hand, if you have a craze for shooting videos, LG V20 offers you a suitable choice. The smartphone offers 4K and 1080p video recording support. So, can shoot and capture video with quite an ease.

Battery life

LG V20 feature 3,200mAh batter, which is quite bigger than the one included in V10 and the LG G4. With the enhanced Doze mode included in Android Nougat, the smartphone can last 20% longer than its predecessor. Apart from this, there’s Quick Charge 3.0 support, which means your will be fully charged within two hours. Also, the battery is removable.

Price

LG V20 price is different from carrier to carrier. While most of the carriers are selling the phone at $800, you can get it at much cheaper price i.e $672 from Verizon. The unlocked version also costs you $800.

Verdict

Concluding our LG V20 review, we just want to say that LG V20 is an ambitious smartphone that is packed with almost every specification you may expect in an ideal smartphone of this price range. Despite ordinary look, you’ll get an impressive display, best camera, elegant interface, efficient storage and a larger battery life. So, if you prefer specifications over looks, LG V20 is the best bet for you. Otherwise, look somewhere else.

Neeraj Sharma is an avid writer, amateur poet, aspiring sketch artist, dedicated gamer, and die-hard music lover. He also loves traveling, clicking and editing photographs, and outdoor sports.Neeraj has penned over 200 articles for different blogs, presented and published 1 research paper, and written numerous short stories and poems. He is also active on the article writing agency, iWriter.